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Suntory time: Japanese whisky named world's best in sour dram for Scotland | Suntory time: Japanese whisky named world's best in sour dram for Scotland |
(about 3 hours later) | |
Scottish drinkers could be forgiven for crying into their drams after a single malt from Japan was named the best whisky in the world for the first time. | Scottish drinkers could be forgiven for crying into their drams after a single malt from Japan was named the best whisky in the world for the first time. |
Whisky expert Jim Murray awarded a record-equalling 97.5 marks out of 100 to Suntory’s Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013, hailing it as “near indescribable genius” in his comments in the forthcoming 2015 World Whisky Bible. | Whisky expert Jim Murray awarded a record-equalling 97.5 marks out of 100 to Suntory’s Yamazaki Single Malt Sherry Cask 2013, hailing it as “near indescribable genius” in his comments in the forthcoming 2015 World Whisky Bible. |
Murray’s tasting notes described the whisky, from the company’s distillery near Kyoto in western Japan, as possessing “a nose of exquisite boldness” and as “thick, dry, [and] as rounded as a snooker ball”. | Murray’s tasting notes described the whisky, from the company’s distillery near Kyoto in western Japan, as possessing “a nose of exquisite boldness” and as “thick, dry, [and] as rounded as a snooker ball”. |
It is the first time since the guide was first published 12 years ago that the top award has gone to a whisky from Japan. The country’s whiskies were once the butt of jokes but have won a slew of awards and widespread critical acclaim in recent years. | It is the first time since the guide was first published 12 years ago that the top award has gone to a whisky from Japan. The country’s whiskies were once the butt of jokes but have won a slew of awards and widespread critical acclaim in recent years. |
To compound the pain felt in the spiritual home of the “water of life”, this is the first time that not a single Scottish whisky made it into the top five in Murray’s respected guide. | To compound the pain felt in the spiritual home of the “water of life”, this is the first time that not a single Scottish whisky made it into the top five in Murray’s respected guide. |
Suntory’s winning whisky is aged for 12 to 15 years in casks previously used for Oloroso sherry, giving it what Murray described as a “light, teasing spice”. | Suntory’s winning whisky is aged for 12 to 15 years in casks previously used for Oloroso sherry, giving it what Murray described as a “light, teasing spice”. |
The drink is a far cry from the cheap, blended versions, mixed with water or drunk with soda and ice as a highball, favoured by Japanese office workers. | The drink is a far cry from the cheap, blended versions, mixed with water or drunk with soda and ice as a highball, favoured by Japanese office workers. |
Yamazaki – Japan’s oldest whisky distillery – produced a limited 18,000 bottles of the prize-winning single malt and they are sold only online or at specialist shops for about US$160 each. | Yamazaki – Japan’s oldest whisky distillery – produced a limited 18,000 bottles of the prize-winning single malt and they are sold only online or at specialist shops for about US$160 each. |
Masataka Taketsuru, who helped found the distillery in 1923, and his Scottish wife, Rita Cowan, inspired a popular TV drama currently being shown by Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK. | Masataka Taketsuru, who helped found the distillery in 1923, and his Scottish wife, Rita Cowan, inspired a popular TV drama currently being shown by Japan’s public broadcaster, NHK. |
They met when Taketsuru was studying chemistry in Scotland – with a view to opening his own distillery back home – and married against their families’ wishes before moving to Japan in 1921. | They met when Taketsuru was studying chemistry in Scotland – with a view to opening his own distillery back home – and married against their families’ wishes before moving to Japan in 1921. |
In 1934 the couple opened the Dai Nihon Kaju (later to become Nikka) distillery in Yoichi on Japan’s northernmost main island of Hokkaido, where he and Rita are buried. | |
Second, third and fourth places in this year’s awards went to three bourbons from the US; the prize for best European whisky went to Chapter 14 Not Peated, from the English Whisky Company. | Second, third and fourth places in this year’s awards went to three bourbons from the US; the prize for best European whisky went to Chapter 14 Not Peated, from the English Whisky Company. |
Murray, who personally sampled almost 1,000 whiskies among the 4,500 being judged, warned Scottish distilleries that reputations counted for little now that other countries were producing their own world-class whiskies. | Murray, who personally sampled almost 1,000 whiskies among the 4,500 being judged, warned Scottish distilleries that reputations counted for little now that other countries were producing their own world-class whiskies. |
“Where were the complex whiskies in the prime of their lives? Where were the blends which offered bewildering layers of depth?” he wrote. “It is time for a little dose of humility … to get back to basics. To realise that something is missing.” | “Where were the complex whiskies in the prime of their lives? Where were the blends which offered bewildering layers of depth?” he wrote. “It is time for a little dose of humility … to get back to basics. To realise that something is missing.” |
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